Middletown - how do you think it will look 10 years out? (Wilmington: crime, how much)

[franklinb]

With all the fast development and growth happening in such a small place

I wonder what will be of this place 10 years from now?


Will we continue with overcrowded schools congestion, will crime plague the town?


Or will property taxes increase to keep up with the growth


Anybody have an opinion?

[rell3001]

I was wondering this myself. I recently transferred to Wilmington from NYC and have my heart set on living in state. I'm trying to find a reason to settle somewhere beside MOT for precisely that reason. Considering I'm trying to find out myself it seems I have nothing to add but more questions.

[youngprodigy21]

I find most people move to Middletown for two main reasons.

1. The schools - The Appointment district does not have forced busing like most other schools in New Castle county. Since children from the inner city are integrated into suburban schools, Northern Delaware has experienced a mass exodus of suburbanites sending their kids to public schools above the canal. Why else are the schools in Middletown better than the rest of the schools in the county? All the teachers have the same credentials, and are all following the same curriculum.

2.Cost of the living - For now you can get more square footage for your money in Middletown then you would in places like Hockessin or North Wilmington. But for how long time will tell

[NJBoy3]

youngprodigy -

This is the first I heard of busing in DE.

Is there busing in New Castle county. Can you please elaborate. I had heard years ago that some employees when hired/transferred to DE would move to PA. Is this why.

Thanks.

[virgode]

New Castle County has 'Cross District Busing' w/
6 or 7 school districts in New Castle County.
As previous poster mentions, Middletown
in Appoquinimink District doesn't participate in busing.

While I lived in Bear within Christiana district my kids attended elementary K, grade 1 & 2 in Bear and started 3rd grade in downtown Wilmington. Travel time totaling 2 hrs a day. At that time Rt #1 didn't exist.

Brandywine
Red Clay
Colonial
Christiana
Appoquinimink
Part of Symrna ??


https://mobile.nytimes.com/1975/03/3...ion-order.html

[virgode]

Originally Posted by franklinb

With all the fast development and growth happening in such a small place

I wonder what will be of this place 10 years from now?


Will we continue with overcrowded schools congestion, will crime plague the town?


Or will property taxes increase to keep up with the growth


Anybody have an opinion?

Crimes everywhere. And lets not sugarcoat it, from what I've read Middletown has its fair share of crime and drugs.

Bear and Glasgow down rt #40, rt# 7 and a few other area were once sparsley populated farmland like Middletown.
Thank goodness for Rt #1 I can avoid the traffic.

Would be a shame to see Middletown go in the same direction.

[NJBoy3]

Thanks virgode. I was totally unaware.

What is your view of Glasgow and Newark in general. I have visited several times looking at smaller houses. But I just don't know what to make of it.

[youngprodigy21]

Originally Posted by NJBoy3

youngprodigy -

This is the first I heard of busing in DE.

Is there busing in New Castle county. Can you please elaborate. I had heard years ago that some employees when hired/transferred to DE would move to PA. Is this why.

Thanks.

Absolutely, YES!

The inner city of Wilmington does not have any public high schools, so all those students are bused out to the surrounding suburbs. I will argue that this is not a racial issue, but more so a socioeconomic one. The fact that we are creatures of habit means we tend to associate with others within our own social groups. Therefore, the busing of at-risk youth from the most troublesome areas of the city has not sat well with suburbanites who inhabit these $500k plus homes. As a result, you have a chain reaction of people from the suburbs withdrawing their children from Delaware public schools, and either affording private education, attempting to enroll their children in charters, or in some cases, moving to unaffected areas such as PA or Middletown.

I am not completely sure what the inner city distribution is at the moment, as it seems to fluctuate a bit based on yearly school board decisions, i.e. the stroke of the pen. You can look at the DOE website to determine how much of a particular school's population comes from the neighborhood zoning and how much is comprised of inner city busing.

I believe that underprivledged inner city children deserve just as good of an education as those more economically advantaged. But the reality is that I encounter SO MANY adults that refuse to send their children to certain Delaware public schools due to the integration.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by youngprodigy21

I believe that underprivledged inner city children deserve just as good of an education as those more economically advantaged. But the reality is that I encounter SO MANY adults that refuse to send their children to certain Delaware public schools due to the integration.

It's so sad. Whenever poor black people (let's be honest, that's who they are) get an opportunity at some measure of equality, white people invariably pull the rug out from under them. Rather than stay and invest their energy into improving their local schools, while people with the means to do so pull up stakes and send their children to private schools or decamp to PA.

[NJBoy3]

Thanks youngprodigy. Appreciate your explaining the education dilemma in Delaware. I think if all students gave a 100% effort and took their education seriously a lot of this would not be an issue. Always opportunity in America for individuals that will work hard while pursuing solid goals.